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The bus stops by at the Lachea Hotel to collect the remainder
of the participants. The large bus always had a lot of trouble
with the narrow streets in this area, so everyone from the Lachea
had to walk down the street and meet the bus at this intersection.
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Now a few scenery shots from the bus window to convery the fact that
we are travelling a long way..
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The bus driver was apparently desperate for a cup of
coffee, so we got to stop off at a local town enroute
and headed for a local caffe.
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After the allotted time, Lucia takes charge, rounding us
back up onto the bus
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enroute we pass the effects of last night's earthquake on one
of the local roads..
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A closer look at the earthquake damage
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We arrive at Piano Provenzana at 1800m where we are to transfer
to four wheel drive mini busses for the final ascent to
Piano delle Concazze at 2800m.
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James Gary and Cindy Lo from the UK. James was also at the
Mars Summer School in Austria with me. James said that he thought
this picture has the highest 'bunny factor' of the ones I showed him..
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into the four wheel drive mini-busses
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for the climb to the field demonstration.
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Arriving at our destination at Piano delle Concazze
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where the field demonstration is about to begin
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In the distance is the observatory that Inge had gotten to
visit by joining the early morning advance party
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Lutz Richter from DLR in Köln demonstrates an Engineering
Model of the PLUTO (PLanetary Underground TOol) Subsurface
Soil Sampler is demonstrated.
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The Subsurface Soil Sampler, better known as the Mole,
is due to land on Mars in December 2003 as part of the
UK's Beagle 2 lander, which is part of ESAs Mars Express
mission.
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the mole slithering along the ground with its tail like tether
used to extract it and its samples from up to 1.5m of
tunneling depth.
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I get a chance to feel the 1.5N internal hammering force
used to drive the Mole.
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A close up of the sampling head of the Mole.
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A television crew were there to record the event. I am not
sure how widely it was broadcast, but Inge's friends called
to say they saw her on Dutch television..
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Gian is obviously a popular interviewee
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Walkie 6 scampers up to greet the crowd.
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and is promptly interviewed.
Walkie 6 is a prototype twin
rigid frames walking machine built at the Mechatronics
Laboratory of Politecnico di Torino in cooperation with
Alenia Aerospace. The twin rigid frames configuration
greatly simplifies the mechanical and control complexity
of a walking machine.
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also being demonstrated is a planetary drill prototype
from Tecnospazio. This drill is 34mm in diameter and 350mm
long, and is made of steel with 6 polycrystaline diamond bits.
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The full test setup for the Tecnospazio drill. The moving
carriage holds a 75W electric motor for drill rotation.
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A closer look at the control electronics.
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The 34mm diameter drill in action, collecting a sample from
the Piano delle Concazze lava flows. The central tip of the
drill can be withdrawn to form a volume 12mm in diameter
for the extraction of a core sample.
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James seems to be taking one of his trademark panoramic
images.
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Gian seems happy with the way things have gone.
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A last panorama of the scene
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then it is time to head back to the
busses.
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